Ten Fun Facts About Citizen Kane
Often heralded as one of the greatest films ever made (and for very good reason), Citizen Kane forever changed the face of cinema. Even today, at nearly 80 years old, the film still stands as a staggering cinematic achievement full of refreshing style and astounding technique.
Impressively, the film marked the directorial debut of Orson Welles, who up until that time had dominated the airwaves with his innovative work in radio. Even more impressive, Welles wore multiple hats on the production, serving as producer, director, actor, and co-writer. The film was a perfect storm of innovation and creativity, assembling the talents of Welles, screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, cinematographer Gregg Toland, editor (and future director) Robert Wise, and composer Bernard Herrmann.
Like David Fincher’s latest effort, Mank, mentions in its opening title cards, Welles was given total control over the project, with the freedom to tell whatever story he wanted without obstruction, which was unprecedented at the time. This is all the more mind-boggling when you consider Welles’ age (he was at the tender age of 25) and that he had never made a film before. Ultimately, it was his naive, outsider knowledge of cinema and camerawork that would lead to some of the film’s most groundbreaking achievements.
Given the recent release of Mank, we thought we’d honor one of Hollywood’s most monumental achievements by tossing out some fun facts. However, since some facts about the film — like how it’s based on newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst — are central to Fincher’s Mank, we’ve eschewed any of those and went looking for other tidbits that are lesser known. Hopefully, you learn something new; if not, be sure to unleash the power of Kane in the comments section below!
Welles took inspiration from John Ford and his 1939 film Stagecoach.
As previously mentioned in the intro text, Kane marked Welles’ first venture as a filmmaker. Since he had no experience and knew next to nothing about filmmaking, he turned to one of cinema’s early pioneers, John Ford, to educate himself on the craftsmanship of this foreign artform. Specifically, he turned to Stagecoach, which was one of the most acclaimed films at that time.
Welles claimed to have watched Ford’s film about 40 times over the course of one month in an effort to analyze the techniques behind its production, which he would use as a model when shooting Kane. When asked about his influences, he famously stated: "The old masters, by who I mean John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford."
Welles’ caffeine consumption and odd dietary routine impacted his health during production.
In his later years, Welles was notorious for his excesses, and his habits would creep up on him and cause several health issues in his autumn years. However, even at the age of 25, Welles suffered some unusual afflictions due to his bizarre eating and drinking habits during Citizen Kane’s production.
For instance, he would consume 30+ cups of coffee per day during pre-production, which, at one point, actually caused him to get (surprise, surprise!) caffeine poisoning. This caused him to switch over to tea, which he ignorantly believed would slow down his intake since it takes a bit of time to brew each cup. However, that didn’t work at all because Welles would have assistants rushing off to make the tea for him. Eventually, he drank so much tea a day that his skin actually changed color…
In addition to the copious amounts of caffeine consumption, Welles would sometimes go long stretches without eating anything at all. Once he was finally famished and ready to eat, he would gorge himself on meals that included “three large steaks with side items.”
Look, we know RKO gave Welles full creative control, but someone really should have stepped in here to give him some notes…
He was also injured twice while shooting.
In addition to the above health issues, Welles also suffered two injuries on set. Welles’ commitment to his character was usually the culprit.
While filming the scene where Kane violently trashes Susan’s room by ripping things off walls and smashing furniture, Welles was so immersed in his character during the rampage that he wound up cutting both his hands. Later, he would hilariously comment on his performance by saying, “I really felt it.”
The second injury was far more severe and would alter the scheduling for the production. It occurred during the filming of the scene where Kane confronts Jim Gettys on the staircase. As Welles’ went chasing actor Ray Collins down the stairs, he tripped and fell, chipping his ankle bone. The injury would leave Welles confined to a wheelchair for two weeks of the production, causing certain scenes to be rescheduled for this very reason. Whenever Welles was needed for a scene during these two weeks, he had to wear special metal braces just to be able to stand up. Now, that’s commitment!
Cinematographer Gregg Toland revolutionized the artform.
Gregg Toland actually approached Welles to ask if he could be the cinematographer on Kane. Toland recognized Welles’ lack of knowledge and was excited by the prospect of trying new things that others filmmakers within the industry wouldn’t dare. Welles liked Toland’s attitude and brought him on board, and Toland gave him a crash course in cinema, allegedly teaching him all there was to know in the span of a half day.
Long before Stanley Kubrick and John Alcott were modifying lenses and cameras, Toland was tinkering with lenses and lighting on Kane to create the deep focus technique that’s heavily featured in the film. Toland’s use here allowed the camera to function much in the same way the human eye does, giving a composition the ability to view an entire panorama at once, with everything clear and lifelike.
Additionally, Kane features many low-angle shots which was an unorthodox method in the day, since it allowed ceilings to be shown in the background. This required every set to be built with a ceiling, which broke studio convention. Welles wanted to, again, give the camera similarities to the human eye; he felt it was a bad theatrical custom to pretend there was no ceiling, commenting that it was "a big lie in order to get all those terrible lights up there.” To allow the ceilings to be visible, Toland would stretch muslin cloth over the top of the sets to create the illusion of a real ceiling — which would, in turn, allow microphones to be placed above actors. The low-angles would also require Toland to dig holes into the ground for the camera, which would occasionally mean drilling into a concrete floor.
Toland also worked closely with visual effects expert Linwood Dunn to create composite shots for the film by laying multiple shots together to create the illusion of one solitary image.
Before these innovative techniques were considered commonplace, they were all lovingly crammed into one astounding feature film. You can see Welles talk more about working with Toland, who he called "the best director of photography that ever existed,” below:
The film also featured some innovative makeup effects.
In addition to its revolutionary cinematography and narrative conventions, Citizen Kane featured some innovative makeup techniques.
The film examines the life of Charles Foster Kane throughout various points in his life, both youthful and geriatric. When it came to the old-age makeup, Welles turned to Maurice Seiderman, who was an aspiring — and non-union, mind you — makeup artist, who was sweeping the floors in the RKO makeup department at the time Kane was in pre-production. Seiderman caught Welles’ eye when he was experimenting with latex in his spare time to create face appliances that allowed actor’s to maintain natural expressions. Seiderman would also engineer special contact lenses to dull the brightness of an actor’s eyes when playing an older version of their character. Impressed by Seiderman’s ingenuity, Welles’ hired him on the spot. Latex face appliances are now, of course, another Kane method that’s common practice within today’s industry.
The makeup effects weren’t exclusive to the old-age makeup, either; they also apply to the youthful scenes as well. For example, when young Kane first buys the newspaper (delivering the link about going bankrupt in 60 years), Welles appears to be dressed as himself at his actual age; however, that couldn’t be further from the truth. He mentioned in an interview that he actually wore more makeup playing a younger man than he did playing the older iteration. Temporary facelifts and hair styling were applied, as were camera tricks, to make him look younger and more beautiful, which actually cast a big shadow over Welles. He would later say that he spent years living down how far he'd come from his "youthful looks," concluding that he felt as though he never really looked that good to begin with.
The studio actually sent spies to the set.
Since Welles had complete control over the project that meant that the studio couldn’t meddle with the creative process. Even though they promised to not interfere with the production, they still overstepped their promise, sending spies to the set to monitor and observe, reporting their findings to the executives. In hindsight, it was a futile gesture, since even if they disapproved of what their spies dug up, they had no contractional power to do anything about it.
Occasionally, the suits would drop by the set unannounced. During these instance, Welles would distract them with his natural charm and showmanship, sometimes even going so far as to perform magic tricks for them (which kinda makes Kane’s line about being a magician a bit more humorous). During these visitations, Welles instructed the crew to “Don’t do anything. Smoke cigarettes and talk.” They would even break into a game of softball sometimes until the executives left.
Joseph Cotten stayed awake for 24 hours to perform his drunken scenes.
Mirroring Welles’ commitment to character, Joseph Cotten (who played Jedediah Leland) stayed awake for a full 24 hours in preparation for his drunk scenes. He felt that staying awake would make his appearance legitimately groggy and cause his speech to be more slurred. Depriving himself of some rest would lead to some unscripted dialogue, which would find its way into the film.
During the scene were the drunken Jedediah confronts Kane, he accidentally flubbed the word “criticism,” then ad-libbed a line that called attention to his character’s drunkenness. The line amused Welles so much that he decided to keep in the picture.
King Kong snuck into the film, kind of.
Despite have massive creative freedom, Welles was still working under a budget, and the studio was willing to cut corners with shortcuts whenever possible to reduce Kane’s overall costs. The most creative actually involves the big man from the jungle, King Kong, which was another RKO property.
During the scene (listed above) where Kane and his entourage leave Xanadu, Kane’s enormous estate, for the beach, you can see large birds flying around the background. These actually aren’t birds; they’re pterodactyls. They are said to be lifted from either the original King Kong or its sequel, Son Of Kong.
The film marked the debut score by Bernard Herrmann.
That’s right, the acclaimed composer of such masterpieces as Vertigo, Psycho, and Taxi Driver got his start in Citizen Kane.
Most Hollywood scores were written and recorded quickly, in as little as two to three weeks after filming concluded. However, Herrmann was given 12 weeks to write the music for Kane. He was even able to work on the film reel by reel as it was shot and cut, and he completed musical arrangements for montages that Welles edited to match their length (as opposed to the other way around).
Given it was Herrmann's first motion picture score, RKO only wanted to pay him a small amount for his work on Kane; however, Welles pushed for a higher rate, insisting that Herrmann be paid at the same rate as Max Steiner, one of the industries most well known composers at the time.
Eschewing the typical Hollywood practice of film scoring, Herrmann’s score for Kane would mark him as an important new composer, and he would later go on to have a robust career creating some of the most iconic cinematic arrangements of all time.
Steven Spielberg is the owner of “Rosebud.”
The film’s famous MacGuffin is the word “Rosebud” and a group of reporters trying to parse the meaning of Charles Foster Kane’s dying word. This is over course — and SPOILER ALERT here — a reference to Kane’s childhood sled, a heartbreaking symbol of the joy and innocence that his wealth and power drained from him in his adulthood. It’s one of the most iconic plot devices in the whole of cinema, and even if you’ve never seen the film (which you definitely should if you haven’t), you’ve probably seen Kane’s “Rosebud” parodied in The Simpsons.
While many of the “Rosebud” sleds were burned during the production as part of the final scene, at least one of them survived. In 1982, one of the “Rosebud” sleds was auctioned off at Sotheby’s in New York City. The buyer was none other than Steven Spielberg, who was an innovative visionary in his own right. It’s still unclear if there are other sleds, or if Spielberg’s is the only one remaining.
What do you think? We want to know. Share your thoughts and feelings in the comments section below, and as always, remember to viddy well!